India probes claims ‘dancing doctors’ ignored patients

Indian officials are investigating a complaint that patients were turned away from a hospital in Mumbai because the doctors were too busy dancing to see them, according to reports on Wednesday.

A video shot on a mobile phone and uploaded to YouTube shows around two dozen women dressed in saris happily dancing away to loud music in what appears to be an empty hospital waiting room.

The women were doctors and nurses at the civic Diwaliben Mehta Hospital in the western Indian city of Mumbai and were celebrating a popular female festival called Haldi Kumkum, the Mumbai Mirror tabloid reported.

A complaint alleging that the partying doctors had failed to see a number of outpatients has been filed with the city authorities’ health department.

“Following a complaint filed with us, we set up a committee to investigate the incident and the report would be submitted in a day or two,” the agency quoted Dr Pradeep Jadhav, the hospital’s supervisor, as saying.

Jadhav added that initial investigations had concluded that the doctors had not done anything wrong.

A senior official at the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai’s health department described the allegations as “baseless”, the agency added.

“Not a single patient has come forward to substantiate the charges,” said the unnamed official.

“All the patients were duly attended to as it was organised during post-duty hours. Moreover, it was a ceremony only for women, and all male staff including doctors were at work,” he added.